A new species of Litomosoides Chandler, 1931 (Nematoda: Filarioidea) from the long-nosed hocicudo Oxymycterus nasutus Waterhouse (Rodentia: Cricetidae) in Uruguay.

A new species of Litomosoides Chandler, 1931 was collected from the abdominal cavity of Oxymycterus nasutus Waterhouse (Rodentia: Cricetidae) in the grassland of the Departamento Rocha, Uruguay. Litomosoides nasuti n. sp. belongs to the 'sigmodontis group', and is characterised by: salient amphids; two ventral and one dorsal labial papillae, but no cephalic papillae; a buccal capsule with a transparent anterior segment and an annular asymmetrical thickening; a muscular oesophagus; a bottle-shaped buccal cavity; the male with symmetrically situated cloacal papillae (one pair ad-cloacal and three pairs post-cloacal); phasmids displaced laterally to the longitudinal axis; and microfilariae without terminal nuclei in the tail tip. It resembles five known species; three of which have been recovered from Oxymycterus spp. in neighbouring countries. However, the new species can be differentiated from L. sigmodontis Chandler, 1931 by the shape and size of the buccal capsule; from L. navonae Notarnicola, 2005 by the muscular oesophagus; from L. legerae Bain, Petit & Berteaux, 1980 by the length of the oesophagus and the cephalic papillae; from L. anguyai Notarnicola, Bain & Navone, 2002 by the absence of lappets in the female tail; and from L. oxymycteri Notarnicola, Bain & Navone, 2000 by absence of pre-cloacal papillae. L. legerae from O. quaestor and L. sigmodontis from Sigmodon hispidus in North America are closely related species, as indicated by Brant & Gardner's phylogenetic tree based on morphological characters. However, a new analysis is needed to include the recently described Argentinean species for a better understanding of the diversification of this genus.